US appeals court shuts down Mark Meadows’ attempt to move GA election interference case

28 February 2024

Mark Meadows — who was chief of staff in former President Donald Trump's White House — is almost all out of options in his attempts to move his Fulton County election interference case from Georgia to the federal judiciary.

On Wednesday, Lawfare correspondent Anna Bower reported that the 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals denied Meadows' en banc petition, meaning the full circuit is choosing to uphold the previous decision by an 11th Circuit panel that already rejected Meadows' bid for a new venue. Meadows' only remaining option is a long-shot attempt to get the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to not only issue a writ of certiorari taking the case, but to overrule the 11th Circuit panel.

Meadows wants his case moved out of Fulton County and adjudicated in US District Court in the Northern District of Georgia instead, arguing that the federal judiciary is the proper venue given that his actions were part of his duties as the president's chief of staff. However, a three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit disagreed with Meadows' viewpoint in a December ruling.

"Because federal-officer removal under section 1442(a)(1) does not apply to former federal officers, and even if it did, the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows' official duties, we affirm [the opinion of the lower court]," chief judge William Pryor wrote.

While Meadows was one of the Fulton County co-defendants not offered a plea deal by District Attorney Fani Willis, he did notably accept an offer of immunity from federal prosecution by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith late last year. Meadows is understood to have provided Smith with details regarding the events before and on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of Electoral College votes.

Meadows was reportedly at Trump's side throughout the last days of his presidency, and may end up testifying against his former boss in his federal election interference trial later this year. Law professor Kimberly Wehle wrote in October that "Meadows' own chief of staff, Cassidy Hutchinson, told the House January 6th Committee that Meadows burned documents in his office fireplace at least a dozen times between December 2020 and mid-January 2021."

That trial — which is being overseen by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan — is currently on pause pending a decision from SCOTUS on whether it will hear Trump's argument that he should enjoy absolute broad immunity from federal prosecution as a former president. Should SCOTUS not issue a writ of certiorari, the case would go back to Chutkan, who would presumably set a trial date.

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